One of the teens who was sentenced last month in the Michael Brewer burning case admitted to igniting the blaze and said he contemplated helping Brewer, according to a tape of his police interrogation released by the Broward State Attorney's Office.
"I was, like, the last one to run," Jesus Mendez told a detective, hours after he and a group of boys surrounded Brewer at a Deerfield Beach apartment complex and set him on fire. "Everybody ran before me. I was trying to think, should I help or should I run? And I didn't know, so..."
The tape of the interrogation, acquired by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, was released after Mendez pleaded no contest to attempted second degree murder last month in the Oct. 12, 2009 attack.
Mendez, now 18, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, followed by 19 years of probation. Denver Jarvis, 17, also pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 8 years in prison with a probation term of 22 years.
Matthew Bent, also 17, decided not to plead no contest and will head to trial this month.
Police say the group confronted Brewer, who was their classmate, after an argument over a $40 video game that Brewer had reportedly agreed to buy from one of them.
In the tape, Mendez tells Detective Mike Lott that they found a bottle of rubbing alcohol and Bent, who they call "Zeke," directed the group to go after Brewer.
"That's when Zeke was like, 'Come on, let's go find Michael and we'll pour it on him,'" Mendez said.
Mendez said Bent told Jarvis to pour the alcohol on Brewer, and that's when Mendez pulled out a cigarette lighter. He told Lott the flame on the lighter didn't even come out, but the spark was enough to engulf Brewer in flames.
"Why would you even think about igniting a lighter at a time like that?" Lott asked.
"I don't know," Mendez said. "I wasn't thinking...I thought it wasn't going to light at all."
Brewer, 15 at the time of the attack, jumped into the apartment complex's pool to put out the flames. He was burned on over 60 percent of his body and spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries.
Mendez told Lott he was sorry for what happened and felt sorry for Brewer.
Bent's lawyer, Gordon Weekes, said his client never told Jarvis to pour the alcohol on Brewer but declined to comment further, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
